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This infographic was submitted to us by Super A-Mart, who also provided this description:

Furniture is an extremely important part of ones home and is an essential part of our lives. This graphic by Super A-Mart is designed to tell the story of what a couch has seen over ‘Jakes’ lifetime. From a baby, to a man with his own family, the couch has been there.

This is a fun infographic that uses the illustrations as the primary means of storytelling, providing just a bit of text for context.

The font choice is a bit odd for the descriptions of each panel; it’s somewhat hard to read without squinting at some of the words since some of the letters run together.

It is a nice example of a piece that serves to promote a brand, but first works to cultivate some trust through storytelling and visuals, not bringing up the brand until the very end.

In all I’d give this infographic a B; I’d like to see a bit more innovation in the design style, but it serves its purpose overall.

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This infographic was submitted to us by Williams Ski & Patio.

It serves as a great guide for anyone unsure how to preserve their patio furniture! Clear “Do” and “Don’t” sections definitely help organize care instructions.

It would be great to see illustrations for both the “Do” and “Don’t” for every material. It looks like it alternates, but that means we miss out on some great illustrations for each care instruction. Especially since there is no hard data (numbers, percentages) to visualize, we need more graphic elements to reduce the reliance on text — infographics should primarily tell their stories with images instead of words.

I’d also recommend a brief intro and conclusion just to set up the purpose of the guide and tie up what’s been learned (or draw viewers back to the company’s site, if it’s been shared elsewhere).

Additionally, the text in the sources is so small that it can’t be read; if anyone wanted to look up some of those sites for information, they wouldn’t be able to make out the URLs unless they zoomed in considerably — all text should be legible at the infographic’s full size.

In all I’d give this infographic a C, since it’s making a start in having the visuals tell the story but it isn’t quite there yet.

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This infographic was submitted to us by Nabru.

This is a fun infographic with fast, weird facts about sofas! It uses a lot of iconography, sketches, and photos to convey its information, plus humorous commentary.

The mix of sketches and photos works well enough here, since the photos are cordoned off with thick outlines — but in general, it’s best to pick either photos or illustration for your infographic design.

Anywhere comparisons can be made, they can help the viewer understand the impact of data a bit more. For example, the world’s longest sofa was 890.25 meters — how long is the average sofa? This could be a creative bar graph comparing the two metrics OR saying how many average sofas it would take to match the length of this longest sofa. Same for the most expensive sofa — what’s a ballpark average cost for a typical sofa, compared to the massive cost of the world’s most expensive one? The exception: I don’t think there’d be an average comparison for time balancing sofa on chin. That average is probably less than zero since (I hope!) most people don’t attempt that!

The stats in the final section are pretty interesting! It’d be nice to see them perhaps arranged in order from most occurrences to least occurrences to get an even more immediate sense of what’s most commonplace on sofas (spills, it looks like).

In all I’d give this infographic a B. It’s engaging and funny, but there are a few missed opportunities for greater impact or more unified design that would help make it even better!

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This infographic was submitted to us by Dr. Sofa. They also provided this description:

Are you planning on a home interior renovation and want to do upholstery repairs on some of your furniture? It’s not uncommon to think that sofa reupholstery is easy. You just simply need to take the pieces apart, stuff the foam, sew the new fabric together, and voila – you have a brand new looking sofa – or so you thought. Once you zoom in on the details, you might notice that you’ve missed a few things – loose springs, uneven buttons, popped seams, warped fabric, oversized cushion, damaged wood – okay, so that’s not just a few. That’s why it’s important to consider enlisting the help of professionals when undertaking tasks such as furniture restoration. Not only do they have the proper skills and experience, they also have the right tools and equipment. Before you know it, your furniture looks better than when you first bought it. Why don’t you check out this infographic to learn more about the benefits of professional furniture reupholstery?

This is another instance of a guide that isn’t exactly an infographic. There are no numbers; it’s just a comparison to determine whether you should tackle furniture renovation on your own or enlist a professional. I do like the leather upholstery background texture and the color scheme, and think the guide makes some good points, so as a guide I would give it an A.

I’m not sure what numbers could be added to make this into an infographic — maybe percent of people that prefer DIY to hiring a professional for home projects, or average cost of reupholstering a fabric armchair DIY vs. hiring? But until some data gets in here, it wouldn’t be an IG.

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This infographic was submitted to us by the folks at Koozai, for Paul Simon home furnishings.

It has a calming effect, and water could conceivably flow between the blocks of text, so perhaps the designer paid some mind to chi when creating the infographic. The background and font are good choices, and I like that most of the points made are illustrated here. It’s certainly a good guide to creating feng shui, and could be really useful for people moving or just reorganizing their living area.

To achieve “infographic shui” (a concept completely made up for the purposes of this critique), the guide would need statistics. Since this is what we call “soft data” (there are tips and tricks, but no facts or figures), data visualization would be difficult to impossible. Any statistics about the amount a person’s mood is boosted by a properly set up room or how many people consider feng shui when designing might be difficult to find or unreliable. This really just means that while this is a nice tool, it can’t be called an infographic.

It’d be difficult to critique the guide as such, then. I would like to see the model of the living room as the main focus, regardless. That way viewers could see a large sample of feng shui executed properly, and each key element could be highlighted by a symbol or arrow that would then be explained in a key. In general with any graphic, the emphasis should be on visuals more than on text.

As an infographic, I’d have to give this a D-, because there is no data, and therefore no data viz. It’s text-heavy and offers no concrete information. But as a tool to increase awareness of the concepts of living room feng shui, I’d be rating it much higher. I’m sure I will consider these points when I reorganize my furniture next!